XN000022-1988-05-14 — Page 3

SATURDAY, MAY 14, 1988

UNEMPLOYMENT, UNDEREMPLOYMENT STATISTICS FOR JANUARY

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MARCH RELEASED

UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT REMAINED AT A VERY IN THE THREE MONTHS JANUARY MARCH 1988, ACCORDING ΤΟ LABOUR FORCE STATISTICS RELEASED TODAY (SATURDAY) BY THE STATISTICS DEPARTMENT.

LOW LEVEL THE LATEST CENSUS AND

THESE FIGURES INDICATE THAT THE LABOUR MARKET CONDITIONS HAVE REMAINED TIGHT, WITH THE LOCAL WORKFORCE FULLY EMPLOYED.

MARCH

THE SEASONALLY ADJUSTED UNEMPLOYMENT RATE FOR JANUARY 1988 WAS 1.6 PER CENT, COMPARED WITH 1.9 PER CENT FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDING DECEMBER 1987 AND 2.1 PER CENT FOR THE SAME YEAR EARLIER.

PERIOD A

PREVIOUS

THE DECREASES OF 0.3 OF A PERCENTAGE POINT BELOW THE THREE MONTHS PERIOD AND 0.5 OF A PERCENTAGE POINT BELOW THE SAME PERIOD A YEAR EARLIER ARE BOTH STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT.

THIS LOW UNEMPLOYMENT RATE, AVERAGED OVER THE THREE MONTHS, WAS DUE TO THE RATHER LOW RATE FOR FEBRUARY 1988, WHICH PROBABLY RESULTED FROM FEWER JOB-SEEKERS LOOKING FOR WORK DURING THE LUNAR NEW YEAR PERIOD, WHO WOULD OTHERWISE BE CLASSIFIED AS UNEMPLOYED.

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THE NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED PERSONS IN JANUARY MARCH 1988 WAS ESTIMATED AT 44,500, COMPARED WITH 53,000 FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDING DECEMBER 1987 AND 54,800 FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDING MARCH 1987.

PER

THE UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATE FOR JANUARY MARCH 1988 WAS 0. 9 CENT, WHICH COMPARES WITH Í PER CENT FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDING DECEMBER 1987. THE RATE FOR JANUARY MARCH 1987 WAS 1 PER CENT.

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THE DECREASE OF 0.1 OF A PERCENTAGE POINT BELOW THE PREVIOUS THREE-MONTH PERIOD AND THE SAME PERIOD A YEAR EARLIER 19 STATISTICALLY NOT SIGNIFICANT.

THE ESTIMATED NUMBER OF UNDEREMPLOYED PERSONS FOR JANUARY MARCH 1988 WAS 25,200, COMPARED WITH 28,500 FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDING DECEMBER 1987 AND 25,500 FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDING MARCH 1987.

CONSISTENT WITH

THE

THE CURRENT RECOMMENDATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION (ILO), PERSONS WHO WORKED LESS THAN 35 HOURS A WEEK DUE TO ECONOMIC REASONS (SUCH AS SLACK WORK, MATERIAL SHORTAGE, MECHANICAL BREAKDOWN AND INABILITY TO FIND FULL-TIME WORK) WERE REGARDED AS UNDEREMPLOYED ONLY IF THEY WERE EITHER SEEKING OR AVAILABLE FOR MORE WORK.

/COMMENTING ON